FT letter: Emma Robarts suggests the CofE should view the plight of Scottish churches as a warning
Managing religion’s decline is now a self-defeating loop.
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Church of England can’t blame social media for its failings
Next week the Church of England’s General Synod will be presented with a report that explores ways of restoring trust in the church.
Letters to the Editor | Church Times
“…despite many diocesan denials, Save The Parish (Cornwall) is correct that the finances and operations of TM and OTW are inextricably intertwined, and there must be a full honest and transparent audit of them to ensure millions of pounds are not wasted, many more priests are not axed, and our rural churches not closed. What the above also shows is that Save the Parish is also correct that OTW is very much a bishop-led, top-down, not bottom-up, process.”
CofE ought to resist a franchise model | Church Times
‘AS THE Church enters Lent, a season of repentance — a time to reflect and change our minds — it should consider how its structures and systems might be reimagined so that it can follow better God’s initiative of transformation, which is always “to make all things new” (Revelation 21.5). We need to find ways to re-engage and empower the hearts and minds of congregations. Given the chance to reimagine their churches and influence diocesan and national strategies from the bottom up rather than be “done to” from the top down, they may feel that their Church is working for, not against, them.’
Common Prayer: When Churches Become Mosques | Tanjil Rashid, The Spectator
If this decade sees the closure of another 2,000 churches, as looks likely, it’s time to ask what should become of them. There are now charities set up to save them, to keep them open for the community even without a congregation. That’s an option. But if that can’t be done, then Muslims would certainly rather a house designed to worship God stayed that way. Christians may think the same. In a fast-secularising society, the People of the Book should focus on the fact that worshippers of all religions are treading different paths up the same mountain.
The Church is acting like the police | Giles Fraser, UnHerd
“But for now it is time to hunker down, and sit out this social and emotional winter. Those of us who want a return to what we had will have to keep the memory of it alive. Innovations will have to be survived and endured.”
